“In the 1960s, the city decided the designer of a new city hall would be chosen by competition. Four architects and three businessmen met at the Museum of Fine Arts, and after three days of judging, when a veil was lifted, the winning design was greeted by a few cheers, a few gasps, and a voice that said, ‘What the hell is that?’” Boston Globe, 2004.

Sitting at the heart of the city, Boston City Hall was once voted the sixth greatest building in American history. Now, City Hall and its plaza are viewed as one of the least successful design projects in the United States.

In WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? we maintain an ambivalent position toward City Hall’s architectural merits and shortcomings, but we engage it as a catalyst for cultural production. We see the potential of merging conservative government architecture with popular culture and propose that its future lies not with physically modifying or adding to it, but simply by transforming its image through association, replication, iconography, and information. Although of course aesthetics and practical concerns influence public perception, City Hall possesses a bizarre mixture of indeterminate qualities that can potentially swing back into the positive realm of public opinion, much like what has happened to brutalist buildings in other cities (e.g. Trellick Tower in London). Through a series of image and artifact based interventions in Boston, we propose a makeover campaign that permeates through everyday life: miniature replicas sold in stores; billboards plastered with “Did-you-know” factoids, fashion designers accessorizing with it, and celebrities identifying with City Hall iconography. By reshaping and disseminating the image of City Hall as a building within the city it serves, we manufacture narratives, trends and myths which reshape the way in which people view it; what was once a place viewed with scorn, is now reconfigured with new associations, allowing it to take its rightful place within the changing urban landscape of Boston.

location: boston, usa
client: --
size: --
scope: architectural branding, international competition
status: honorable mention
year: 2010
team: matthew jull, leena cho